I forgot to add something to the Vancouver list

Buntzen Lake. One of my favourite places in the Vancouver area. It's so peaceful and spiritual. One just wants to sit there and look. This time I think I might want to hike up Eagle Mountain. It's a fair hike but supposedly the view from the top is magnificent, and you pass a waterfall on your way up.
The best part is that there's a special part of the beach reserved for dogs. Even if you don't have a dog of your own you can go there and just sit and watch all those beauties playing in the water.

What a sham

If you think about, it really is one big sham. We're all big shams. I bet most of us don't do one single spontaneous, honest move on Facebook. Few people would put as their status: "Just got up and looked in the mirror and I look like shit" or "Just screamed at my 2-year old for being too noisy". Even the negative events are sugar coated. The exception are those lost souls who are looking for attention and sympathy, and whose statuses will almost always be reeking with self-pity or self-deprecating, so that friends will just have to pep them with reassuring platitudes. Either that or they can be so mysteriously vague and desperate at the same time, so as to invite as many people as possible to comment.

However, most people will make sure to present a normal picture of themselves. Rosy even. How much is actually real? I suppose a lot of us like to present a picture of ourselves that aren't really true. Even more bizarre are that people actually take pictures solely intended for Facebook. "Pose with me, I'll make this my new Facebook picture!" Or putting on makeup and taking pictures of themselves when they're alone.

Is it all about projecting a certain image? How sincere is it really, when you have hundreds of people on your friends list. How honest are you really in your statuses and your wall posts? I suppose everyone is different. If you think about it, it really is bizarre. Sharing your daily actions on an internet site every single day, as so many people like to do. After a while all that becomes such a huge bore. I've stopped caring when people bake bread, when their kids have a cold or what they ate for lunch, or where they're traveling to on their vacation. If I'm good friends with them, odds are I will know about it anyway and don't need FB to tell me about it. And if I'm not, what does it matter? In the beginning the whole thing was kind of neat but now I barely even reflect on people's statuses or wall posts anymore. What purpose does it really serve? If most of what we reveal about ourselves on there is either fabricated, distorted or irrelevant anyway, what's the point?

Well, these are my thoughts. I'm questioning the purpose behind sites such as Facebook and Twitter, yet I know I probably won't deactivate my FB account just yet, so I guess that makes me a hypocrite. Anyway, if one starts to think too much, nothing makes sense. Everything is fluff and pretense.

Roommates from hell

I've had them.

I've had a variety of roommates in my day, since I moved around quite a bit during my college years.

There was the 18 year old gay guy with ADHD who had a different boyfriend every week and liked to leave his used condoms in the bathroom sink. He also never cleaned, did dishes or showed any concern toward his two roommates. He once moved in his friend and had her stay on our living room couch. She was initially only supposed to stay a few days but it ended up being a couple of months, and most nights her boyfriend stayed with her there on our couch. I finally had enough and complained to the landlady, who booted them both out of there.

Then there was the incredibly surly Taiwanese girl who lacked a personality, who I rented a room in the basement from. The room must have been a garage once because it was cold and had that concrete feel to it. The room outside my room wasn't properly isolated or even finished, and there was always a mysterious bucket in the hall that seemed to contain a head. I only stayed there 1 month, then I couldn't take it anymore.

I'm not sure that I can count an ex-boyfriend as a roommate, but I should be able to since we more or less lived like roommates anyway. We shared a bedroom of course, but we had separate finances and so on. He wasn't a bad roommate, apart from his tendency to be grumpy and just an all around bore. His brother lived there too, which was okay, apart from his lack of hygiene. His B.O permeated the house. B.O is one of those things that never gets any easier to deal with. You just don't get used to it. And I think as far as B.O goes, one of the worst smells is unwashed thick hair, apart from rampant sweat odor and other smells emerging from the lower regions.
When really thick hair hasn't been washed for a while, a particularly nasty odor starts to emanate from it, a smell so foul that it almost takes your breath away, but not in a good way.

To do in Vancouver

The trip is looming nearer and nearer. I think I might want to stay permanently. It'll be odd and sad to just be there for 2 weeks. Having to leave all over again. Well, I'm not going to think about that. Instead I will focus on the positive notes, and make plans of the things that are a must while I'm there.

In no specific order, these things are definitely on the agenda:

1. Burger and fries at Red Robin with Dianne, and some of their Ceasar salad, and a second visit during which I will have their Mesa Chicken Salad. Provided it's still on the menu.

2. A REAL pizza. Not the thin, greasy crap they have here. Who the hell puts EDAM on their pizza instead of Mozzarella?!

3. Purdy's in Lougheed Mall. I will enter the store, tears welling in my eyes, sniffing in the air like a bloodhound, and I will rejoice. Snowballs, chocolate covered caramel, milk chocolate...how I have missed this!

4. Dinner at Steamworks with Dianne. Remembering an evening years ago when we had a delicious dinner in their cozy basement and Dianne got drunk on half a glass of red wine. The food here is really excellent and the ambiance is not bad either. It's also located in one of my favourite parts of Vancouver - the Waterfront area.

5. Visit at old friend's place and meet their adoptive daughter. Might spend the night.

6. Mission Springs Brewery in Mission for dinner. The beer is great, the food is great, they have daily specials, the ambiance is nice, plus it's one of our old hangouts.

7. Going with Dianne to her gym for a workout/swim. Looking forward to finally trying out this gym that I feel I've heard so much about. With all the food I'm going to eat I feel like I'm going to need as much exercise as possible.

8. Take the 99-B Line to UBC with Dianne. That's where it all started. That's where we became best buds. So, the plan is to take the bus out there, hopefully check out Buchanan where we took classes and sweated out oral presentations and even a Shakespeare performance. Then it's off to the UBC pub for a pint of Kokanee or Molson.

9. Ghost train in Stanley Park. This is a funny and thrilling ride. It's a family attraction, so it's not all that scary but it's just the idea of riding around in a dark park and seeing ghostly sights amongst the vegetation when you least expect it. Plus, it's going to be fun to see how Dianne reacts.

10. Shopping in Metrotown with Dianne.

11. Walmart in Burnaby. As surreal and weird as that place can be, they really do have some cheap stuff that you can't find here, like smoked oysters for 3 bucks a can. It's also a trip down memory lane.

12. Spaghetti Factory in Gastown. So much food to be had...so little time...sigh...
Well the best part of this restaurant, apart from the cheap, good food, is that it's haunted.

More will be added to this list as time goes by. Stay tuned.

What's the big deal about alcohol?

Drink it because you like it, not because you feel you have to because your friends are drinking, or because you want to get hammered. I must confess that I'm guilty of having done the latter. There have been times when I've had a particularly bad day that I've needed to take the edge off. But there is no way in hell I would drink just because everyone else does it. I don't care if I look like a square or not. If people perceive me as boring just because I'm not drinking, well that really says more about them then it does about me. People have started placing too much emphasis on alcohol. It goes both ways too. The non-drinkers place too much emphasis on it and claim that it's bad and the drinkers place to much emphasis on it by thinking that you can't really have a good time without drinking. The latter is especially true in Sweden. A party isn't a party unless you get hammered in Sweden. There are exceptions to this of course, but in general, the drinking culture is almost hysterical. It becomes like a clear, hard goal to get drunk before you go out. A mission. I have had the dubious pleasure to attend a few Swedish so-called "pre-parties", and although I'm not exactly a teetotaller myself, I was astonished by the amounts of alcohol that gets consumed at this affairs. The goal - to get sufficiently drunk before everyone goes out to a club. The reason - it's too expensive to buy booze at a club, and besides you're not really having a good time unless you're drunk. Everyone else is doing it, so that means you have to as well.
The drinking culture is a little bit more laid-back in Canada. I rarely ever see people as drunk there as I do in Sweden, and even when Canadians are drunk they handle it better. The pressure to drink is still there though, which I think is silly. Why does it have to be such a huge deal?
The same goes the other way around. It's one thing if you don't like the taste of alcohol, but to abstain from it completely because you feel it's evil in some way is silly too. Alcohol is a drug, and consumed in excess it's dangerous and in some cases lethal, but come on...drinking because you like the taste of it isn't bad. And people who drink aren't morally depraved creatures who are going to hell for their sins. If I want to have a glass of wine or beer because I like it I'm going to have it, and I don't really care if or who else at the table shares my choice in beverage. Drink if you want to, and if you don't I couldn't care less.
Maybe the solution to everyone's problem is to simply put less emphasis on alcohol all around. The people who rabidly binge drink should stop looking at booze as the magic quick fix to a good time, and alcohol shouldn't automatically be included in a Saturday night of fun with friends. As a result of this, the teetotallers of the world might stop looking at alcohol as the downfall of man.
Everyone just chill out. It's just a beverage. It just so happens that we have to consume it with a little more care than we do milk or coke.

Weeding out the bad apples

My friend just blogged about whether or not it's okay to date more than one person at a time. I vehemently stated that it was not okay, and that if a guy does that he's a scrub, just as if a girl did that she would automatically be labeled a slut.
Then I got to thinking, after a comment following mine, that dating and being in a relationship are two different things. I always thought the term "dating" is an odd term to be using these days. Because as it was pointed out, it is actually courting, and how many people court these days? These days people meet, go out for coffee and then start hanging out and doing things like hiking, going out to dinner etc. We don't really refer to it as dates anymore though, do we? It's only a date in the very beginning, before you know the person and become a couple.
Once you become girlfriend/boyfriend you're not dating anymore. You're in a relationship. It's at this state that dating other people at the same time would be poor form.

However, as I've told my best friend many times, one should date several people. Finding Mr. Right is like wine tasting. You need to take a swig from a few different glasses before you find the one that's suitable for you. If you get into a serious relationship with the first guy you date, what do you have to compare him to? If you fall head over heels on the first date and he's the man of your dreams that's one thing, but come on...how often does that happen?

Before I had my debut with the opposite sex, I knew nothing about guys. I thought they were going to be like in the movies. Boy was I mistaken! Turns out, they're just as flawed as we girls are. And that's okay, we're all human. I've stopped expecting perfection, and I now realize that compatibility is more important. Do we have similar interests, do we click, is he kind and caring?
Yes, I did go through a phase in the beginning when I was drawn to mean guys. Thankfully I outgrew that. I have zero interest in them these days. Nor do I have any interest in self-absorbed and vain men. Now what is desirable to me is someone who treats me with respect, is kind, has a good sense of humor and is responsible. The rest will fall into place.

It wasn't always like this though. I made some pretty gruesome mistakes when I was younger. Not that I dated much. My experience is really quite limited. I have had enough experience though to be able to weed out the bad apples from the good ones. I think once we pass a certain age we acquire a radar that will give off a warning signal when we meet a real loser. Experience helps. Dating more than one guy does help. How else are we going to be able to see who's decent and who's a moron? How else are we going to be able to distinguish romantic love from friendship? Passion from like?

So, don't be afraid to shop around a bit before you decide on your keeper. It'll make you all the more mature and ready once that special someone does come along.
Also, for those girls out there who still thinks they have to wait for the guy to make the first move, remember that it might be just as difficult for him as it is for you to do it. Granted, it's more appealing with a guy who's not afraid to make his feelings clear. I've had my fill of elusive, insecure men. It's not attractive. But I don't think there's anything strange with the girl making the first move. Whatever comes naturally. Once we hit adulthood, that cute coy stuff and playing hard to get and hinting around something instead of just coming right out and saying is just isn't charming anymore. Who has the time and the energy for it! The same goes for men. If you like someone, just say so. Life is too short.

Divine right

I just read in the local newspaper that a man who sexually molested two small girls for 8 years was sentenced to 3 months in jail. The girls were 5 and 7 years old when he started molesting them. What he did to them was severe enough to be classified as rape. 3 months in jail? Is that all their childhoods are worth? Their childhoods were probably over the moment he laid his grubby hands on them. And it's probably a fair assumption to say that this will remain with them for the rest of their lives. I'm sorry, but it was my children, 3 months just wouldn't suffice. Granted, this man is 77 years old, but that makes no difference in my opinion. If it was my children I think I my first focus would be to help them process this experience in the best way possible, but my second priority would be to get justice on their behalf. I don't know if I would rest until I got it. I know we're supposed to forgive and forget, but in this case I doubt I'd be able to. I think mothers have a God given right to protect their off-spring and make sure that whoever hurts them pays for what they've done. Might not be the most charitable and Christian opinion to have, but deep down we're all animals, and animals fiercely protect their young. There's no excuse for sexually abusing a child, and I have no sympathy for a pedophile, no matter what age he is.

Stress and anxiety times

I now suspect that it doesn't really matter what happens in September. I think that there's some kind of underlying factor that causes anxiety this time of year. Maybe there's nothing I can do about it. Maybe it's something in the air. Who knows.

I spent part of the day phoning British Airways to get an explanation from them as to why they took 50 dollars from my account without my knowledge. These are the dangers of giving out your credit card number.
No explanation was given, just a request to fax a copy of my bank statement so they could see the exact amount, which is odd since they should be able to see that in their computer system anyway. Well anyway, I faxed the damn thing off and have been trying to contact the same person I spoke to this morning, since I didn't hear anything for several hours. Naturally, she had gone home for the day.

Apart from this joyous task I took on a fifth English course for this term. I hope the students will be nice and pleasant, and not sulky and pessimistic. There have been instances where some students have been like that. There are sometimes 1 or 2 people in the group that behave that way. I just don't have the patience for that these days.

On another note, the wrong side won in the election and those that are gravely ill and unable to work can look forward to another 4 years of degradation. The Swedish Democratic party made it into Parliament, which came as no surprise since the polls had indicated that this would happen. While I don't agree with their opinions, and would definitely not cast my vote in their favour, I, having lived abroad for a longer period of time, have a different perspective than Swedes who have never lived anywhere but in Sweden. As an immigrant in Canada for example, you will not receive any government funded lessons in your native language, and if you want to study English you do it at your own cost. In Sweden, immigrants get to take Swedish For Immigrants for free as well as lessons in their mother tongue, to maintain their native language skills. All in all, Sweden is still pretty good to their refugees and immigrants when they first arrive in the country. It's later that they fuck up, when it comes time for them to start looking for a job. Foreign people are still discriminated against on the job market, unfortunately.
I also think that the Swedish Democrats brought up a valid point that needs to be addressed, since I consider it a huge problem, and that is the fact that girls get called "cunt" and "whore" in school on a daily basis, especially if they're blond and Swedish looking. This is outrageous and I think something really ought to be done about this. No girl should have to be called those names, no matter where she's from. So, any political party who'll take an active stance against it and who will invest money into putting a stop to it is okay in my book. Whether or not the Swedish Democrats will actually deliver on this promise is another matter entirely. All politicians make wild promises during election times and then suddenly get amnesia when it comes times to make good on them.

And here we go!

My mom was hospitalized today. She's a nurse in the intensive cardiac care unit. Today her blood pressure went sky high and she almost passed out. After running some tests they find out her blood count was low too. They did a lung X-ray and took more blood tests. I automatically started thinking the worst, since she's been a smoker for many decades. She's still in hospital now. We went to see her this evening. While we were there another nurse came in with some tests results and as it turns out she might have hypothyroidism. Nothing has been confirmed yet and there are still other tests to be done. If it is hypothyroidism it can be treated with medication. I hope that's all it is because it's nothing compared to what I was fearing.
She's in hospital right now and tomorrow we'll hopefully get some answers.
See...bloody September! This has been a bad day for me because not only am I a worry wart these days, but it being this particular month I'm extra sensitive.
It's so odd, because I really love autumn. It's my favourite season. The colours are so beautiful and it's Halloween and it's getting darker and that means lighting candles and cozying up on the couch. I love it. It's just a shame that shitty stuff always seem to go down in the fall.

Why must "happy and cheerful" be a prerequisite?

Isn't this a tad discriminatory?

In job ads in Sweden, it's not uncommon to see among the qualities they are looking for: "Happy, cheerful, perky".

Darn, and I met all the other qualifications! I have a university degree and 5 years work experience. Too bad I'm not happy, cheerful and perky! Oh well. Next time.

What business is my emotional state to a potential employer as long as I am qualified and know how to do the job? As long as I'm competent and know how to plaster a big old smile on my face even though I don't really mean it, that should be all that's required. Why do we have to be perky and cheerful anyway? Isn't it enough to be polite and genuine? Why do we have to be affected in order to achieve?

I am not, nor will I ever be, perky and cheerful. I never have been perky and cheerful. This is why I'm most suited for a job where I don't have to see any people. Stick me in front of a computer screen with a long translation, or better yet, a book to write. I may struggle and hate it while I'm doing it but I'm secretly loving it and enjoying every minute of not having to pretend to be perky and cheerful. Screw perky and cheerful. These are adjectives that are stereotypically associated with women, as if we all should naturally be sunshine and lollipops. Well we're not. We're just as filled with issues and conflict as men are.

Happy is something to strive for however. Happy is a goal to aim for.

Halfway through

We've reached the half peak of September. This is when the shitty stuff usually goes down. However, even when September is over I'm not going to assume that everything is rosy and sunshine. Crap has been known to happen in October too. I hope I'm not jinxing it by talking about it. Knocking on wood right now just to be on the safe side.

I know we're supposed to live in the present and not spend our lives worrying about what will come tomorrow, but when you see a negative pattern developing you can't help but be a little but concerned. I don't know why, but this time of year is very volatile for me. I can't help feeling that it's more likely that something bad happens now.

September so far

September is the most dangerous month for me, the month when something bad usually happens. I've kept my mouth shut about it until now and have never shared my paranoia with anyone. I'm thinking now that maybe I should. God knows keeping quiet about hasn't stopped things from happening, so why not talk about it?

Every f-ing autumn for the past 4 years something shitty has happened. There have been deaths in the family, threats, confrontations, panic attacks...I started to think that I have been cursed, and that the month of September was destined to bring on the drama. Well screw it. I'm sick of keeping it to myself. It sure hasn't done anything for me keeping it to myself.

So, we're 9 days into September and so far nothing really terrible has happened. Let's hope it stays that way. Although the heavy stuff usually don't go down until at the end of the month, or in October, so the fact that nothing has happened yet doesn't necessarily mean anything.

I'm not usually this open, but I've had some brandy and I'm feeling cockier at the present time. But you know, I think that I'm far too closed up, and that so far it has gotten me nowhere. Perhaps it is better to be more open.

I can't wait for this month to be over.

Obsession is bad

I'd rather be obsessed by food or drink than with another person. There is nothing so frustrating than to be obsessed with someone. When I fixate on someone I really go all out. My life revolves around that person and he affects every aspect in my life. I even take up the same interests as him, or at least I make a half-hearted attempt to.
It's been a long time since I did this. Thankfully, I've stopped obsessing about people. I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm nice and normal now, but as I matured a bit I became more independent, and gained some self-respect. Now I slap myself down if I can sense fixation rearing its ugly head, which it almost never does anyway.
When I did use to obsess it was almost always about a guy of course. Even when it was mutual, I would always go the extra mile. The more he withdrew from me the more I'd push. Sometimes it was unrequited love, sometimes it was mutual. In either case, nothing good came out of it. In the unrequited cases I was too chicken to make my move but too possessive to relinquish the thought of him, instead I tried to make sure that I was around him as much as possible, in seemingly innocent ways. I'd just happened to pop by his house because I just happpened to walk by. In the early days, when I still had zero experience and was a freaky recluse, I'd form obsessions with guys I didn't even know, who were just casual acquaintaces at work and who had done nothing more than speak to me nicely. I looked one of them up in the phonebook and found his address and made a point of walking by his apartment building several times a week, like some fanatical stalker.
Then there were those crushes or relationships which weren't solely in my head, but that actually existed. In those cases where my feelings were requited, it started out well but as time went on I would always start to fixate, and since almost no one likes to be with someone who's clingy, it always ended badly. With those crushes that didn't know about my feelings but who I suspected felt the same way, I grew bitchy and unstable whenever I felt them slipping away from me. If I thought that their interest was waning I'd become cranky and weird.
Even when your love is requited, becoming obsessed with someone can never lead to anything good. I think we lose ourselves a bit when we do that. We become so focused on that person and his/her actions and words that we forget about ourselves. I hate that feeling and I hope I'm never in that place again. Because as I've realized, we can control some things but we can't control other people. We can't control their feelings or actions. All we can do is be ourselves and try to live our lives with some dignity and self-respect, and treat people the same way we'd like to be treated, and accept that other people are different from us. It may be my imagination, but I think I make friends more easily now that I'm not so desperate and clingy. Not only that, but I actually manage to keep them too.

Canada vs. Sweden part 2

Like Sweden, Canada has advantages as well as disadvantages. I'll start with the disadvantages.

Disavantages to Canada:

1. Rules and regulations
There are so many rules that seem rather nazi-like. One is that infants and toddlers need to cover up on the beach. That is, they can't romp around naked but have to wear a miniature bikini or swim trunks. I suppose with all the pedophiles running around out there, this makes sense...somewhat. One rule that doesn't sit well with me though is the no drinking in public law. Are you telling me I can't have a beer with me to the beach? That's ridiculous. Why should be able to drink anywhere inside but as soon as you step outside it's a no-no? Silly. This is a matter of personal choice for me. As long as I don't get hammered and violent towards others, I don't see whose business it is if I have a beer outside.

2. The healthcare system
As long as you have a care card, you're alright, but if you don't, and you're in need of extensive medical care, you're screwed.

3. Standard of living
In general, the standard of living is better in Sweden. You definitely see a difference in the quality of housing. Rental apartments in Sweden make rental apartments in Canada look like rat holes. In fact a lot of apartments and basement suites in Canada are rat holes. And yet landlords charge a fortune for very substandard living. Meanwhile, there are huge, fabulous houses built next to run-down shacks that don't even seem fit for living. The gap between rich and poor sure is big. I have lived in some questionable places in Vancouver, and those places were still palaces compared to some of the dumps you see. And then of course there are a lot of people who don't even have a home.

4. PST, GST, HST...
Living in B.C sure isn't cheap. It wasn't enough with PST and GST added to your bill, now it's HST - Harmonized Sales Tax - too. Sounds like crap to me.

5. Post secondary education costs through the nose
This is not solely a bad thing. It is bad that it has to cost so much to get an education, especially if you're an international student. It should be cheaper. However, making students pay for their studies might help to weed out those who really shouldn't be going to college or university in the first place. In Sweden, some people study because there is nothing else to do, without a real aim, thereby taking up slots that should be filled with motivated people who really need and want an education. The facts still remain though that it's too pricey to get an education in Canada. Where does all that tax money go?

Advantages to Canada:


1. Friendliness and openness
Ok, this isn't always true. If you're on the skytrain or subway during rush hour, you'll find that the atmosphere is less than friendly. In general though, Canadians have an openness about them that I have a hard time finding in Sweden. They have more tolerance to differences. This in part due to the country's multiculturalism I suppose, but Sweden is getting rather multicultural these days and people seem as narrow-minded as always there. Swedes are set in their ways. It's harder to stray from the norm in Sweden, much harder. In Canada there is a sense of personal freedom. You don't have to stick so hard to the norm. It's more okay to be different, or to go your own way. Also, you will find a good deal more friendliness in the service sector. Here the customer is in charge, and if you find yourself being treated rotten you can always ask to speak to the manager. I dislike people who make it a point to complain and who shout for the manager as soon something doesn't meet with their approval, but if something really is wrong, you should be able to complain and get some form of reimbursement. It is not okay to wait for your food for an hour and then not even get an apology. It is not okay to receive the wrong order and have the waiter roll his eyes in annoyance when you complain about it, or just as infuriating - give you a sarcastic little smile.

2. It's okay to be neurotic
It doesn't matter if you're a little nutty, or a little gloomy. And you can admit that there are certain parts of your life that stink. In Sweden, perkiness is a prerequisite. It even says in a lot of job ads: "We're looking for a happy, perky person..." So I have to be happy and perky in order to do this job? How is my emotional status relevant? As long I'm competent, polite and good at my job, how is it relevant whether or not I'm happy? And perky...I'm not even going to go there. I have never been perky and I will never be perky. I dislike perky. Especially when it's mixed with smugness, as it is in so many of those blond Swedish women. Oh, and in Vancouver you don't need to feel like a bum because you don't dress like a fashion poster because most people in Vancouver wear t-shirts anyway.

3. A more efficient job market
There is more variety, more jobs, less discrimination, and if you don't do your job properly you lose it. I happen to like this last part the best. It should pay off to be a good worker. If an employee slacks off and has a bad work attitude, why should they still be able to keep their job? In Sweden, employees are so protected by union rules and government rules that short of stealing, they can do just about anything and get away with it. They can slack off as much as they want and still keep their jobs. I've seen it with my own two eyes. Whereas in Canada, it's not necessarily those that have been there the longest who get to keep their positions if the company has to do cut-backs. It's those that are good workers who get to stay, at least that's been my experience. I don't believe in that last hired, first fired rule. It should be based on performance who stays and who goes.

4. Natural beauty
The landscape in for example B.C is amazing. Sweden is beautiful too but there is something so breathtaking and dramatic about B.C. It makes you stare in disbelief. The first time I went up to Burnaby Mountain Park I just sat there and stared in amazement.

5. More privacy
People don't stare, and more importantly, when you buy or sell property it's private information and it is not listed in the newspaper with the exact figures for the public to see. Nor is your annual income public information. In Sweden it is public information whenever someone sells or buys property. Why this would be anyone else's business I have no clue. More important, why should it interest other people how much some total stranger got for his house? However, such things are public information. Even worse is that your annual income is also public information. I find this absurd, not just because it's an invasion of privacy but because it's disturbing that people actually are that nosy that they need to know what other people bring home every year.